Carrière des Nerviens Regional Nature Reserve

The Carrière des Nerviens Regional Nature Reserve (in French Réserve naturelle régionale de la carrière des Nerviens) is a protected area in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. It was established to protect a site with rare plants, and covers just over 3.11 hectares (7.7 acres). The reserve consists of an old sandstone quarry dated to the Famennian stage in the Late Devonian epoch. It was backfilled in the 1970s with marl. The new soil was re-colonized by pioneer species, which coexists alongside an established afforestation, forming a mosaic of habitats. The reserve was created to protect 15 regional interest plants and three plant communities listed in the Habitats Directive. This flora is linked to calcium present in marl. The reserve also plays a role in wildlife corridor. CPIE Bocage de l'Avesnois, a non-governmental organization, is the owner and operator of the reserve. The main objective of the management is to maintain the current diversity. The secondary objectives are environmental education, heritage interpretation, improvement of knowledge fauna and flora, and environmental monitoring.